Paige Higgins Marathon Makeover

In Part 1 of this series, I explained the situation: Paige Higgins, a world championship marathoner, wants to run a much faster marathon, but her current running form limits her performance. In this edition, Paige begins the process of changing her form, and the results have been exciting (and a little surprising).

In my analysis of Paige’s pre-makeover form, I noticed a few key faults:

1. She, like many of us, overuses her arms. They cross her body instead of moving forward to backward in the classic runner’s arm swing.

2. Her shortened, shuffling stride is at least partially due to a very, very high stride rate. Most experts suggest that 180 steps per minute is optimal.

Reviewing video (above) of Paige training, racing a 5K, and competing during the World Championship Marathon last August revealed that her stride rate totaled 200-215 steps per minute. That’s a lot of steps with very little “flight” within the stride. The result, as you would expect, is a very short, shuffling stride.

3. Due to her quick leg turnover, she has very little back kick and squats while she runs. To further complicate things, she not only squats but also runs with her butt sticking out. These two faults lead to a reduced knee lift and a lack of leg extension (the rear leg at toe off should be close to straight, but her rear leg is still bent at toe off).

From this analysis, I devised a weekly series of exercises to address these faults. Paige and I met once per week for the first month to implement the exercises and to track her improvements. Her “homework” after each session included implementing the ideas learned in each technique session.

Technique Sessions, Month One

In the first month of technique sessions, I wanted to get a baseline of the issues I found in the slow motion video analysis in order to establish proper movement patterns. I also wanted to get an idea of whether her nervous system was adaptable.

Some runners have a highly adaptable nervous system. These runners can pick up new motor skills very quickly. Ask them to learn to juggle and they’ll get it in no time. Ask them to stand on a fitness ball and they can do it after just a few tries. Other runners have a nervous system that is slow to learn new skills. Juggling is nearly impossible and takes lots and lots of practice to see small improvements. Standing on a fitness ball, which requires a lot of neural activation and coordination, becomes dangerous, as the body just can’t learn the use of different muscle groups to balance on the ball.

Lastly, I wanted to see what her basic speed (fastest time over 100m) was, and if we could improve it by changing her form. It’s hard to shuffle through a fast 100m, so this is a great (and exaggerated) way to see how form changes.

From the outset, my fear was that Paige’s nervous system would be slow to adapt after literally millions of short, shuffling strides. How hard would it be to make even the smallest change? After all, we only needed to gain an inch or so of increased stride length to make a significant difference in her time over the 26.2 miles. And, could we make this form change without causing injury?

The Warm-up (and Cadence Evaluation)

Each weekly technique session started with a four-lap warm-up around the track. I had Paige count her strides during the warm-up. Even at a slow jog, her cadence (steps per minute) was 200!

You can do this test at home as well. While running, count the number of steps for your right foot in 15 seconds. Multiply that by four and then double it and you’ll have your cadence. At a slow jog, you’d expect it to be 160-180, but certainly not 200.
Slow Motion Mechanics

Next, each session included slow motion running form mechanics. We started with moving the legs through the full running motion range—bringing the knee forward and the thigh up 90 degrees from the ground—while Paige supported herself against a wall. At the same time, we put the hips in the proper “running tall” posture and rose up on the ball of the foot to exaggerate the leg extension. As you’ll see in the accompanying video, we started with very slow movements, kind of like Tai Chi. I wanted to ingrain the movement pattern and ensure proper form. Once she had the hang of the form, we moved on to marching using this same form. This is a great exercise for all runners, as it helps to reinforce good mechanics.

Arm Swing

After the marching exercise, we worked on the proper arm swing and discussed ideas like tucking the elbows in or throwing the thumbs out to try to get her arms to move back and forth instead of side to side while she ran. She is also doing a series of stretches for her chest to help keep the arms in the proper plane. Improving arm swing was something that would be easy to integrate into Paige’s daily runs; you can work on your arm swing on each and every run, too.

Leg Loading

Next, I tested the nervous system with leg loading exercises. I asked her to hop from one leg to the next in an exaggerated and slow running motion. I was worried that her body would simply not tolerate this strong push off, and would float and land on the other leg. After all, her shuffling stride indicated that she was avoiding this motion for some reason. To my delight, her nervous system responded and she could, in fact, bound from one leg to the next. This showed me that we could make the changes we wanted and that there was the potential for her to become a more dynamic athlete. We just needed to condition the muscles to handle the new stress and teach her nerves and muscles to fire differently to include more flight in her stride.

Stride Rate (Cadence)

In the middle of one night, I awoke, wondering how to reduce Paige’s stride rate/cadence. The answer was a metronome. So, I downloaded a metronome application called iTick onto my iPhone. At practice, I had Paige run at varying stride rates. I started with 180 steps per minute, then switched to 160 to 140 to 200, etc.

This turned out to be one of the best exercises we could have done. When Paige ran with the phone, she concentrated on getting into synch with the metronome. She was amazed to feel the different stride rates. And I was amazed at how her stride became long and less “shuffly” as she slowed her cadence. We were definitely onto something, and using the metronome has become a great tool to help her lengthen her stride. She’s not efficient yet at this new stride, but her nervous system is getting the hang of it.

Basic Speed Testing

Finally, I concluded each session with two all-out sprints for 100m. We started from a standing start and just pushed it as fast as we could. Her best time in the first session was 17.63, but by the fourth session, her 100-meter time was down to 16.41. It may not seem like much, but I am very excited to see that her form is not just improving in her regular running, but that she is translating this into greater speed and push against the ground. Does she run like a sprinter? No. But we don’t expect her not to shuffle at all. We just want her to shuffle less and take a longer stride. We are getting there.

Evaluation

Overall, I would say, “So far, so good.” Her form is improving in her regular running as well as her workouts (although she often reverts back to her super shuffling form when she gets tired), and she is getting faster.

All is not rosy, though. While she has remained injury free, she has felt like, to use her word, “crap,” while running. Her body was very efficient running the old way, and she is very inefficient running the new way. It’s going to take another month or two before her new form begins to feel better.

In the next installment, I’ll report on our ability to integrate the new form into her everyday running, as well as her ability to sprint faster and for longer. Stay tuned.

Greg McMillan, M.S., is the 2009 USA Masters Trail Marathon champion, a USATF-certified coach, a senior writer for Running Times and the coach of the adidas-McMillan Elite Olympic Training Team in Flagstaff, Arizona. Check out his training programs for runners at all levels and his bestselling DVDs at www.mcmillanrunning.com.

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